Some kids are just smarter?
“Well, my brothers have a little bit of a bigger brain, so they are a little bit smarter than me,” declared a second grade student I see who just happens to have apraxia.
“I don’t believe they are smarter than you, or have a bigger brain than you,” I retorted. He was so sure though. Not in a defeated, depressed way. No, more in a matter of fact, I know more than you way, and he was just so sure. “My brother has a bigger brain, so that’s why he can build better Lego buildings than I can,” he said.
“Sweetie, your brother is in SIXTH grade and you are only in SECOND. Have you ever thought that is why he can build bigger Lego’s than you?” I argued.
“No, he’s just smarter. His brain is bigger,” he replied.
Sigh. Where do I start? I can’t let this go. I’m supposed to be doing speech therapy, but this is too important to brush off.
“I don’t care what you think, or how you sure you are,” I said, “I don’t believe their brain is bigger than yours.”
He listened.
“Sweetie, my husband is super AWESOME at Legos. He can put them together faster than anyone I have ever met. He is an engineer. An engineer is a person who tends to be good at math and good at figuring out how things work. I would make a terrible engineer. Not only can I not do Legos or figure out how things work, I really don’t care. You know what I’m good at? I’m good at talking. I’m good at writing. I LOVE words and language. My husband, you know, the Lego guy? He doesn’t like writing. He doesn’t care for words. So, who is smarter?”
His eyes got really big.
“Who is smarter?? Who has the bigger brain??” I demanded.
“I…I ….don’t know.”
“Exactly. No one has a bigger brain. We are both smart at different things, and you are too.”
He smiled. I hope he heard me. What a tragedy it would be for this child to think he is not smart. What a tragedy it is for ANY child to think they aren’t smart. Every child has gifts in different areas, and our job is to make sure they all know it, and they all find it.
